


In Your Memory

by AoYokai



Series: No. 6 Holy Day Event [2]
Category: No. 6 - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-28
Updated: 2014-12-29
Packaged: 2018-03-04 01:44:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2904704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AoYokai/pseuds/AoYokai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for the RC blog :D</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the RC blog :D

Inukashi walked in the familiar path to Memorial Park, along with Renka, Lili, Shionn, Getsuyaku Jr. and Karan. The park was one of the main attractions in the city around the time of the Phoenix Festival. The weather was always wonderful at that time of the year, and if that wasn’t enough of a reason to go on a calming walk just before the great Festival started, the park was decorated especially for the event.

Memorial Park was dedicated to the memory of those who died in the last Holy Day, the one where the Correctional Facility fell, and was appropriately located in the very same location where it once stood. The Phoenix Festival, a tradition that replaced the Holy Day in the past four years, was a symbol for the rebirth of No. 6, but also for the many people who died when the old city fell. That made the event the greatest celebration in the whole world, attracting people from every city with proper transportation to No. 6, as well as a chance to pay respects to loved ones who were killed by No. 6’s evil doings.

For the occasion, every tree in Memorial Park was decorated differently. The trees were considerably small, since they were planted only four years ago—each tree in the memory of one special person. Memorial Park was designed to give every mourning family its own private space; it had huge lawns and the trees were located far away from each other, so even in the most crowded time of the year, Inukashi, Karan, Renka, and the children weren’t even close to the other people who came to mourn.

Inukashi left the others not too far from Getsuyaku’s tree to prepare their picnic, and went to visit it by himself. Inukashi always visited him first, for reasons he didn’t quite understand. After all, Lili and Renka were closer to Getsuyaku than Inukashi, and so was Karan. But still, it was just how their little tradition went, so Inukashi never doubted it. He sat down before the tree and said nothing for a while, just listening to Shionn and Getsuyaku Jr. playing together and Lili yelling at them to be careful.

“Hey there,” he said eventually, “how’s it going?”

Inukashi waited for a second, as if Getsuyaku was really answering him and his voice was just inaudible. “We’ve been doing great,” Inukashi told him, “Lili started going to Lost Town Middle School. She was really excited about it, although there isn’t much difference between her old school and this one. She’s a good girl, as always. Helping Karan and Renka around the bakery, and sometimes comin’ over to the hotel to help me out, too. She still babysits Shionn and Getsuyaku Jr., but now I also ask Nezumi and Shion to babysit sometimes.

“Oh, yeah,” Inukashi suddenly remembered, “I haven’t told you that bastard is back, have I? Well, he’s back, and looking better than ever. Not that that’s a good thing, but it improved Shion’s mood, so I guess it’s fine to have him around again. And the kids love him. I don’t know why, though, because in the first few weeks every time one of them talked to him he looked like they were plotting to kill him or somethin’. It was kinda funny, actually.

“Shionn’s a good kid, too. Always helping his mummy,” Inukashi bragged, “he started helping me washing ‘em dogs now. He loves ‘em a lot, and the dog love him back. They know he’s a good kid, I’m sure. Getsuyaku Jr., too. Fine son you’ve got there. Always worried about others. Very observant. Jus’ few days ago, one of my older dogs died. Your son and Shionn happened to be with Karan and Renka at the bakery that day, and when I came to pick Shionn up, Gets Jr. said, “Is something wrong, Uncle Inu?” Jus’ like that. Haven’t even said anything.

Inukashi stood up and reached for his pocket before continuing, “I brought you some pictures to look at. Thought you’d like that.”

He held one of the pictures in front of the tree, as if showing it to it. “This is Lili on her first day in middle school. You see how excited she looks? She kept jumping around saying “Mrs. Karan! Mrs. Karan! Mom! Mom! Uncle Inu!” It was really cute. Never seen her that excited before.”

Inukashi put the picture of Lili in the end of the stack and show the next one. “This is Shionn’s birthday. It was only a week or so after Nezumi came back, so everyone was really happy. Especially Shion. You see him here, holding Shionn? That’s one of the first times I’ve seen him genuinely happy after Nezumi left. Nezumi’s not in this picture. I think he still felt like he didn’t deserve to be a part of our family at this point. He’s over it now. I bet Shion punched it into his brain that he has a home now.

“This picture is from a week ago. Karan decided to teach Nezumi, Shionn and Gets Jr. how to bake.” In the picture, Karan, Nezumi, Shionn and Getsuyaku Jr., all stood in a row holding trays with pastries. Karan was clean, and her tray contained delicious looking muffins, while Shionn and Getsuyaku Jr. both had their faces covered with chocolate and trays with a little less delicious looking muffins. Nezumi stood beside Karan, his entire body white with flour, and his muffin looking completely inedible.

“That didn’t go very well,” Inukashi admitted. Just as he was about to show Getsuyaku’s tree the next picture, Shionn ran to him yelling, “Mama! Mama!” and hugged him from behind.

“What are you doing, mama? Miss Karan and Miss Renka say the food is ready,” he said happily.

“Just saying hello to Getsuyaku, that’s all,” Inukashi explained.

“Getsuyaku?” Shionn asked. “But Gets is way over there,” he pointed at Getsuyaku Jr., who was running around Lili as she made the last preparations for the picnic.

“Well, Getsuyaku is actually Gets’ father, you see?” he tried to explain.

“Gets’ daddy is a tree?” Shionn asked.

“No, it’s just—ah, never mind,” Inukashi mumbled. “Yes, Getsuyaku is a tree. The biggest and greatest of them all.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

“Happy Phoenix Festival, Safu,” Shion told the small boulder he used as Safu’s gravestone in the past four years. He put a bouquet of asters by the rock, and sat down next to it, so he can look at the view of the city the way Safu looked at it every day.

“I missed you a lot, you know,” Shion told the rock, “lots have happened in the past year, and it’s such a shame you couldn’t see it. Not having you here in the past few years was unbearable, and it still is, but in a different way now.

“You see,” he explained, “until now I needed you as support, I needed someone to help me go through every single day. Losing you didn’t just cause me pain, it was a hole in my life. You disappeared right when I needed you the most. Things were bad enough with my new incredibly stressful lifestyle, and with Nezumi’s leaving me. True, I had Inukashi, and my mom, and Rikiga, but as much as I love all of them, none of them could possibly take your place. You are my precious, irreplaceable friend.

“But now, I miss you for a whole different reason,” Shion said, and reached to a basket filled with Karan’s pastries, eating while continuing to converse with ‘Safu’. “I’m finally happy again. Maybe ‘again’ is the wrong word, because I don’t remember ever being this happy. Well, the closest it ever got was the time I spent with Nezumi in the West Block, but there was always stress, and hunger, and danger. I guess, I still enjoyed it a lot. Much more than my life in the first three years after the city fell, at least. For the first time since that happened, I can wake up in the morning with a smile on my face, and be thankful for every waking moment, not counting the minutes before I can go back to a restless sleep.

“Which is exactly why I need you now more than ever. Not to support me when I’m in pain, but to share my happiness. For every time I needed you before just to cry on your shoulder, now I need you three more times just because I want to talk to you. I want to tell you what I ate for lunch, or what Shionn told Nezumi yesterday, or what happened in my last meeting for the new school in Lost Town. You’re my most precious friend, and I can’t help but to want to tell you everything, always. And that’s why it’s so much harder now, when everything is finally falling into place.

“I wish you could meet Nezumi for real,” Shion lowered his voice. “I think you two would fight a lot, but still you would enjoy each other’s company. You’re both the type to enjoy the presence of someone that challenges you. I wish you could see how much happier he’s become. He smiles quite often now, and not a bitter or sarcastic sort of smile. He’s truly happy. Obviously, you can’t get used to something like this so quickly, but he’s getting there. And for once, I feel like he really wants to get there.

“I find myself imagining what you would say about all sort of thing almost every day. I keep thinking about what you would say when Nezumi came back. Would you hate him for leaving like Inukashi did? Would you give him a warm welcome like my mom did? Would you be nervous around him at first like Rikiga? I’m not sure, but I hope it’s not the first one. Inukashi is over it now, and I’m glad, because I never hated Nezumi for leaving. I knew he needed this, and now with him right before me, I can see how much it helped him to decide what he wants in life.

“I wish you could see him walking around in the city like it’s the most natural thing in the world,” Shion said, “it wasn’t always like that, obviously. But it makes me so happy. Just looking at—”

“Shion!” Nezumi’s voice interrupted Shion and Safu’s conversation. “Shion! Whe—there you are!”

Nezumi walked to Shion’s side. “Did you find what you were looking for?” Shion asked, still sitting on the ground.

“Well, I wasn’t really looking for anything,” Nezumi admitted, scratching the back of his head nervously, “I just wanted to have a look at the place. I have lots memories down there, and although most of them are not too pleasant, I still wanted to see that room one more time.”

“It’s not going anywhere,” Shion smiled at him. “You can visit as much as you want. Although it might be a little far from our apartment, and _really_ far from your workplace, so it would be pretty difficult to just go there spontaneously.”

“Yeah,” agreed Nezumi. “Anyhow, what are you doing here? What is this?” he asked, pointing at Safu’s gravestone.

“Oh, this is just,” Shion looked at the city again. “It’s a little thing I made for Safu. To remember her. I used to come here and talk with her every year, and I guess I’m not quitting this tradition quite yet.”

Nezumi sat beside him. “I see,” he said. “You shouldn’t quit this tradition.” Shion looked at him with a surprised look.

“What,” he said, “no stop burdening yourself with the past speech this time?”

“That’s for when your life is at risk every single moment,” Nezumi refuted irritably, “not for your current super-important-hero-of-the-city lifestyle. Besides, I wasn’t very good at listening to my own advice in this particular aspect.”

“No?” Shion asked.

“No,” Nezumi confirmed. “But let’s leave this one for another time. Talking about my granny seems a little off topic right now.”

“Granny?” Shion almost jumped at the chance to learn a new thing about Nezumi, who smiled bitterly.

“I said not now,” he grunted. “Later. It’s not like we don’t have enough time.”

“I guess you’re right,” said Shion, then turned his gaze to the view again. Nezumi, in the meanwhile, enjoyed the comfortable silence by gently caressing Shion’s hair. Then, Nezumi got up.

“What are you doing?” Shion asked.

Nezumi didn’t answer, he just went to the rock beside Shion and sat down in front of it. “Hey there, Safu,” he said, “I guess you don’t really know me. We only met once and you were pretty much… well, Elyurias that time. I don’t know what Shion told you about me, but from what he told me about you, you must be a really important person for him. So, thank you, for looking over Shion when he was young, and for staying here when I was gone.

“I wish I could get to know you better, but I guess it’s impossible now. Nevertheless, I’m glad I could get this chance to talk with you. And I promise, I won’t let anything hurt Shion from now on. So, you don’t need to worry about this airhead so much anymore. I’ll make sure that he has only happy stories to tell you, okay?”

Shion came closer, to hold his hand, and whispered, “Thank you,” and the two walked back to their home in the West Block. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for helping me with this fic so much, vox :D


End file.
